 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (October 2023) |
The Yosemite Firefall was a summertime event that began in 1872 and continued for almost a century, in which burning hot embers were spilled from the top of Glacier Point in Yosemite National Park to the valley 3,000 feet (900 m) below. From a distance it appeared as a glowing waterfall. The owners of the Glacier Point Hotel conducted the firefall. History has it that David Curry, founder of Camp Curry, would stand at the base of the fall, and yell "Let the fire fall," each night as a signal to start pushing the embers. The firefalls were performed at 9 p.m. seven nights a week as the final act of a performance at Camp Curry.
The Firefall ended in January 1968, when George B. Hartzog, then the director of the National Park Service, ordered it to stop because the overwhelming number of visitors that it attracted trampled the meadows, and because it was not a natural event. The NPS wanted to preserve the valley, returning it to its natural state. The Glacier Point Hotel was destroyed by fire 18 months later and was not rebuilt.
The spectacle of the Yosemite Firefall has evolved into a natural spectacle observed annually. Unlike the original man-made Firefall event, the modern-day phenomenon is a captivating interplay of nature's elements that occurs every February, replicating the appearance of a fiery waterfall without the use of actual fire in Horsetail Fall (Yosemite). Today's Firefall occurs at Horsetail Fall on El Capitan in Yosemite National Park, where the setting sun illuminates the waterfall, casting a warm, fiery glow that resembles a cascade of fire.